The HTC EVO 4G is slated to get the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) upgrade through an over-the-air update slated to begin on June 6. Starting on Monday and going out in waves throughout the U.S., Sprint customers will receive a notification to accept an update that loads the new version of Android.

But Android users are notoriously impatient and I’m sure you don’t want to wait that long. Sprint promises that you won’t have to wait if you follow these simple steps and prompt a Gingerbread update manually. From the home screen, press Menu > Settings > System updates > HTC software update. Make sure that your phone has a charge of at least 75 percent capacity before initiating the download, and do not interrupt the phone while updating.

The Gingerbread update will provide small benefits to battery life on the HTC EVO 4G. It also fixes sync on multiple Gmail accounts, displays attachments, and provides easier access to downloads. This does not include the “new Sense” software that appears on the EVO 3D. HTC has already said that version of Sense UI will not arrive on older phones, so EVO 4G users will have to be content with these marginal improvements.

As for root users, you probably don’t want to download through Sprint. Updates may remove root access, so it’s best to just wait around for your ROM of choice to take this new version of Gingerbread and improve things like they’ve been doing. Track progress through the Sprint community forums.

Note: If you don’t see the update available immediately, try again in a few hours.